Single Mother Sues Army

[TheDaddy]

Tilern DeBique, 28, says she was forced to leave the Army because she was expected to be available for duty around the clock.

She was formally disciplined when she failed to appear on parade because she had to look after her daughter.

She was told the Army was a 'war-fighting machine' and 'unsuitable for a single mother who couldn't sort out her childcare arrangements'.

Sounds reasonable to me but wait

Now she is in line for a payout of at least £100,000 for loss of earnings, injury to feelings and aggravated damages.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...childcare.html

We have no money for kit or injured soldiers but we have a £100k for her, no wonder she is smiling...

[Paul K]

Don't forget she is also going for racial discrimination too.

[Gary L]

They should appeal and win. otherwise who's going to look after my child is going to be just one of many.

[j52c]

What a surprise, she is playing the race card game.

Absolutely sickening it really is some people are so pathetic what the hell did this dozy bint expect where did she think she was. Seriously this should never have gone her way and common sense should have prevailed we have brave lads and gals overseas right now doing and being everything that is best about our armed forces and we have this person back here showing the real side of what this country is becoming.

There was a time that when a young female recruit became pregnant she had to leave the service..there was no question she should stay unless she did have an alternative for the child's care.

Personally I think that there should be no single parents in the services.The child/ren should seen to come first if they only have one parent to care for them.

Also although the services are a terrific career opportunity they really cannot be viewed as other professions are.The elements of risk must make the armed forces a special case in such cases.

[j52c]

Very true.

My son joined the young boys army when he was 16, he then went straight into the regular army when he was 18 and been there ever since. He has done several tours in N Ireland, he has also been in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan, during this time he has risen up the ranks and cannot get much higher.
He has 2 children, neither of whom he saw till they were a few months old, there was no way he could get leave to be at the birth.
People know what they are letting themselves in for when they join the army, it is a shame when you get people like this who play the race card when things don't go their way.

[punky]

Originally Posted by Maggy J

There was a time that when a young female recruit became pregnant she had to leave the service..there was no question she should stay unless she did have an alternative for the child's care.

Personally I think that there should be no single parents in the services.The child/ren should seen to come first if they only have one parent to care for them.

Also although the services are a terrific career opportunity they really cannot be viewed as other professions are.The elements of risk must make the armed forces a special case in such cases.

Indeed. It should also be worth noting that she got pregnant several years after joining the army. So she should bear the responsibility in bringing a child into that situation, not the armed services. Stupidly, the courts disagree.

---------- Post added at 09:33 ---------- Previous post was at 09:30 ----------

Originally Posted by Paul

Don't forget she is also going for racial discrimination too.

She's already won that.

Its ludicrous to claim racial discrimination because armed services won't bend and break immigration rules to bring in soldiers' family members.

Whilst most employers try to be flexible with child-care issues, I believe the Armed Forces have to be an exception, as you/they need to be able to be on duty at the drop of a hat (it's part of the job description).

[nomadking]

They did try to be flexible.

But yesterday the former lance-corporal admitted rejecting a five-year posting to a base which had facilities to look after her daughter. Miss DeBique admitted turning down a five-year posting to Blandford Army Camp in Dorset, which would have provided the care she had needed for her little girl.

I sorry to say, this is just utter Bullsnot !

Torygraph

It was also disclosed that she had simultaneously been applying for work at up to £48,000-a-year job in Afghanistan making use of specialist telecommunications experience from the Army....

......In August 2007 she emailed a recruitment agent about a job as a senior systems administrator for a Nato telecommunications project in Kabul which involved being away for nine weeks at a time, the panel heard.
A few months later she applied for another similar post which required would have required her to be in Afghanistan for 12 week periods.

And here's the Tribunal's judgement - Telegraph

the tribunal ruled: "Despite it being foreseeable that Miss DeBique could become a single parent while in service and if that happened that she would have difficulty with her childcare arrangements unless a member of her extended family who was a foreign national could live with her, the Army failed to make appropriate arrangements for such an eventuality.
"Bearing in mind the recruitment campaigns, the tribunal would expect that the Army would make those arrangements.
"The arrangements could have been to provide proper childcare provisions. But that was not done or done effectively.
"So, the tribunal would expect some relaxation of the usual immigration rule."

What? The Army's only recourse to prevent this would have been sterilisation - what a stupid statement (imho).

[Taf]

Give her an armoured pram and send her to the front line....when she refuses, do her for desertion, lock her up for a while, then kick her out back to her country of origin.

Then send the members of the tribunal to the front line too.

Yet another example of what happens when the doctrine of equality at all costs is allowed to trump anything and everything else without question. I could say more about how we came to this but then I'd be forced to close the thread for making it political.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by foreverwar

Whilst most employers try to be flexible with child-care issues, I believe the Armed Forces have to be an exception, as you/they need to be able to be on duty at the drop of a hat (it's part of the job description).

Agreed. It is one thing missing a parade, but what if she'd been called on to go to war? Would she have missed that as well?